Mongrelfolk
Those people who have heard of mongrelfolk know them as brutish, ugly creatures who bear the worst features of all their parent races. And that is exactly how the mongrelfolk like it. In actuality, mongrelfolk can pass for members of their parent races--any of them. In fact, when someone meets a mongrelfolk, he always assumes the new acquaintance is a member of one of the other major humanoid races--just not his own. Dwarves see mongrelfolk as unusually tall and broadshouldered elves, while elves might consider them to be surprisingly tall and slender dwarves. Orcs view them as oddly short and ugly humans, while humans might see them as tall and strangely comely orcs. To each race, mongrelfolk looks like a member of another race, because they have features common to several species. Mongrelfolk use this inability to pin down their ancestry to their advantage. After all, it is difficult to describe the culprit of a crime if a witness cannot even identify her race with certainty. Those few mongrelfolk who are born with clearly nonhuman features serve as a distraction from the rest of the race. They grow up knowing that they will be spat upon by the other races, but secretly honored by their own kin. These visibly misshapen mongrelfolk make sure that people in the area know who they are and where they are, thus reinforcing the stereotype about their race in general. In such a situation, ordinary appearing mongrelfolk are often able to move about more freely, because no one associates the slightly tall dwarf, or slightly stocky elf with the hideously deformed creature hiding in the woods nearby. Mongrelfolk Racial Traits * +4 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -4 Charisma: Mongrelfolk are hardy, but they lack proper education and others find their appearance repulsive or at least vaguely unsettling. * Humanoid (human): Mongrelfolk are humanoid creatures with the human subtype * Medium: As Medium creatures, mongrelfolk have no special bonuses of penalties due to size. * Mongrelfolk base land speed is 30 feet. * Low-Light Vision: Mongrelfolk can see twice as far in starlight, moonlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. * Emulate Race (Ex): Because of their radically mixed heritage, mongrelfolk can use magic items that only function for a user of a certain race. This ablity works like the emulate race function of the Use Magic Device skill. A mongrelfolk can automatically emulate any humanoid race, with no need for a skill check. Mongrelfolk who have the use magic device skill have a +4 racial bonus on attempts to emulate nonhumanoid races during that skill. * Sound Imitation (Ex): A mongrelfolk can mimic any voice or sound she has heard. Listeners must succeed on a DC 16 Will save to detect the ruse. * Immunity to ''sleep ''spells and similar magical effects * Diffuse Blood: Bomgrelfolk gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against any spell that targets a particular race or ignores a particular race, provded the selected race is part of their general ancestry (human, halfling, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, or orc). * +1 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects and illusion spells or effects. * +1 racial bonus on saving throws against poison * +1 racial bonus on Appraise, Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot checks * +4 racial bonus on Hide and Slight of Hand checks. * Automatic Language: Common * Bonus Languages: Any * Favored Class: Rogue Personality Mongrelfolk grow up knowing they do not belong to one particular race, but are kin to all of them. They are perhaps the most open-minded of the humanoid races in terms of dealing with each other--mongrelfolk see nothing wrong with having orc friends, any more than they have problems allying with dwarves or elves or gnomes. They treat every race as equals and as distant cousins and hope to be treated the same way in return. To facilitate this goal, Mongrelfolk learn how to imitate the other races. They practice archery and woodcraft to be more like elves, stonework to be more like dwarves, and cooking to be more similar to halflings. The race's real talents lie in the area of stealth. Mongrelfolk are naturally sneaky, expert at vanishing into a crowd. They hone these skills, working to become quieter and quicker and less obtrusive, and their familiarity with different races makes this task even easier. Physical Description Mongrelfolk Range in height from a little under 5 feet to almost 6 feet tall, and they weigh between 125 and 230 pounds. Their skin ranges from pale to dark, perhaps with gray or pink undertones, and their hair ranges from fine to coarse and black to white-blond. They usually have large green or brown eyes, which can be dark or pale or (as is often the case) indeterminate enough to look dark in shadow but pale in bright light. Their ears are slightly upswept and come to mild points at the upper tips, and they usually have heavy brows and jaws. Mongrelfolk favor simple, functional clothing and rarely wear jewelry. Relations Mongrelfolk get along extremely well with the other humanoid races, for two reasons. First the mongrelfolk themselves appreciate each race's unique traits and culture, and they enjoy meeting and mingling with people. Second, other races never realize mongrelfolk are among them, taking each mongrelfolk instead for a member of another race. This allows the mongrelfolk to move freely through the world, avoiding any racial bias and giving none in return. Mongrelfolk are perhaps closer to half-elves than any other race, because half-elves can also be mistaken for a member of one of their two parent races. Mongrelfolk feel a degree of pity toward half-orcs and half-ogres, who are clearly not human and are persecuted for their differences. Alignment Mongrelfolk tend toward neutrality and chaos. They live their lives by their own standards, prefering to follow instinct rather than rules. Mongrelfolk lean more toward good than evil, Simply because they know that helping others earns them more respect from the world at large. But some decide that since no other race fully accepts them, they should not care what happens to anyone else, and they focus entirely upon their own welfare and prosperity, even to the point of harming others to achieve their goals. Mongrelfolk Lands Mongrelfolk do not claim their own lands, and deliberately so. Their race focuses on blending in with other races, and so they carefully establish small communities within a variety of lands, preferably in large villages, or cities where their presence will nto be noticed. Mongrelfolk establish their largest populations in human cities because humanity contains a great variance of appearance. Human cities also generally support a racially mixed population, giving the mongrelfolk even more cover. Those mongrel folk who are visibly nonhuman can usually be found within a day's ride of such places, and they live within caves and swamps close enough to a major road that travelers can see and hear of them. Religion Mongrelfolk worship their own god, Meriadar. The deity appears as a humanoid with an elf's ears, a dwarf's nose, a human's chin, an orc's jaw, and a gnomes eyes. His height, weight, build, and coloring shift from second to second, making it impossible to pin down his true features. Meriadar encourages his people to use their ability to blend in among te other races, and to remember that they represent the ultimate result of a mixed society. His priests teach mongrelfolk the ways of each parent race, help establish and maintain their hidden communities, and see to the welfare of the misshapen mongrelfolk set out as distracttions from the rest. Meriadar expects open-mindedness and compassion from his worshipers, and an attempt to meet and befriend members of every parent race. Language Mongrelfolk speak Common. Many also speak Elven, Dwarven, Gnome, Halfling, Orc, orseveral of the above. Mongrelfolk have their own pidgin language, known appropriately enough as Mongrel, but they only use this when other races are watching. Names Mongrelfolk pick their names from those used by other races, and they take care to use names that sound close enough to those of several different races. They adopt different last names or clan names depending on what race they encounter. A mongrelfolk's clan name is used as a middle name, staying constant no matter what disguise the individual uses. Mongrelfolk clan names are one syllable in length, and can easily sound like the first portion of a last name, allowing a mongrelfolk to utter his clan name and then the fictitious one after it, and thereby indentify himself to any mongrelfolk nearby. '''Male Names: '''Andion, AUsten, Caden, Elzedar, Haraze, Jerain, Michel, Randal, Tahriol, Winden. '''Female Names: '''Betra, Candace, Deliah, Esthel, Gerta, Jenemia, Lissende, Marte, Safire, Vendela. '''Clan Names: '''Bar, Cam, Del, Fir, Gav, Lim, Mon, Nek, Pul, Ras. Adventurers Mongrelfolk love meeting people and seeing new places. They particularly enjoy visiting places where no one knows them, and where they can start fresh without having to worry about anyone determining their real ancestry. Mongrelfolk also like spending time with their parent races, studying each culture and trying to fit into it, or least learn how to prosper within it. Ultimately mongrelfolk prefer traveling to settling down. They roam from place to place, plying a craft such as tingering or carpentry that earns them respect and coin wherever they go, and also provides them a good cover for their excursions. Mongrelfolk have a natural gift for stealth and thieving; though not all become rogues, they keep an eye open for any wealth that might be had, both for themselves and fortheir families back home. Category:Race Category:Races of Destiny Category:Humanoid Category:Humanoid (human)